Coherence in naming in distributed computing environments

Many different kinds of names (identifiers) are used in computer systems. Names are resolved (interpreted) in a context. A context is a function that maps names to entities. Multiple contexts allow the flexibility of giving different meanings to a name in different parts of the system; however, there are situations where it is desirable for the meaning of a name to be the same in different parts. This property is called coherence in naming. Since the meaning of a name depends on the context selected, the analysis of coherence is based on the notion of closure mechanisms-implicit rules that select a context for resolving names. The authors define coherence and show how it is affected by various closure mechanisms. Then they present several approaches for dealing with the lack of coherence. Incoherence arises from selecting an incorrect context, and consequently, closure mechanisms are involved in the solutions.<>